Like most art students, Samantha Sheffield was impeccably trendy. She went to the edgiest clubs in Bristol. She had a tattoo above her instep. And she was taught to play pool by Tricky, the trip-hop star whose nickname refers to his unpredictable conduct.

If there was one thing that let down her image, it was her boyfriend: he was an Old Etonian who worked for the Conservative party. But for David Cameron, who this week suddenly became favourite in the race for the Tory leadership, Sam’s groovy milieu was truly an eye-opener. It revealed life outside the privileged world in which he had grown up, said friends, and it profoundly changed him.

“Dave would spend weekends there,” recalled one who accompanied him. “And rather than assuming that people believed, as he did, that lower taxes were a great thing, he would try to justify and explain his position.”

It is unclear how the likes of Tricky — or Jade Jagger, a guest at the Camerons’ wedding in 1996 — responded to this. Nor whether Sam attempted to interest Cameron’s bosses, Michael Howard and Norman Lamont, who likewise figured among the wedding guests, in getting their feet tattooed.

In truth, Sam’s background beyond her student days is even more privileged than her husband’s. She is the daughter of Sir Reginald Sheffield, 8th baronet, and Viscountess Astor. Her mother’s jewellery shop was a favourite of Diana, Princess of Wales.

As for Cameron: he was born 39 years ago today. His father was a stockbroker. On his mother’s side he was descended from several generations of obscure Tory MPs. As shadow frontbench spokesman on education, he has nearly surpassed them all: even the great Sir William Mount, 1st baronet, never rose higher than parliamentary private secretary to Lord Salisbury as chancellor.

In a speech of passion and poise at the Tory party conference last week, Cameron established himself as a star. In a focus group of voters organised by Frank Luntz, the American polling guru, on BBC2’s Newsnight to judge the Tory leadership candidates, Cameron was the runaway winner. “David Cameron has reinvented politics for me,” said Luntz.

Bold comparisons with the young Tony Blair floated in the air and the Tory delegates swooned.

Who is the real Cameron — is there substance behind his undoubted style? And — most important of all — could he really become prime minister? The Camerons met through David’s younger sister Clare. Sam came to stay during a family holiday in Italy and that was that. “He made me laugh,” she remembered. “He’s very funny.”

He in turn seemed to have enjoyed her lessons in “keeping it real” during her time in Bristol. Nevertheless, he continues to move in circles that are out of bounds to mainstream society.

White’s Club, for instance, does not allow women and is described by another Old Etonian, from an even grander family, as being “so posh even I feel uncomfortable going in there”. But Cameron said his father was a member and the club provides a useful meeting place and a hearty lunch.

IT HAS become a cliché in recent years to argue that the Conservative party must get rid of the heterosexual white men from our great public schools. To appeal more widely, so the theory goes, it must promote women and minorities.

The rapid rise of Cameron disproves that — in part at least. In “Dave” Cameron, the Tory party may possibly have found its own Blair: a man from a privileged background who overcomes that to appeal far beyond the party’s traditional support.

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